Amen. Would you take God's Word this morning, please? Open to the book of 1 John. We are looking through 1 John on Sunday mornings, and this morning we come to chapter 2, verse 3, down to verse number 6. And the title of the sermon is, How to Know That You Know. 1 John 2, verse 3, on down to verse number 6. Let me read a few of these verses with you. And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that saith I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word in him barely is the love of God perfected and hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. Now, one of the most crucial issues that you'll ever deal with in your own life is having absolute assurance of your salvation. In fact, that is the most important issue, is being saved and knowing that you're saved. The Puritan Thomas Brooks wrote a book on this topic, and he titled the book, Heaven on Earth. And the reason for that is because it is kind of a foretaste of heaven to know that you're saved, to have that assurance. In fact, Fannie Crosby wrote that in her song that we love to sing, blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. And indeed, it is a foretaste of glory to have assurance of salvation. So the question is this morning, do you have that assurance. Then we talk about assurance, what are we talking about? We're talking about the firm, unshakable knowledge that you belong to Jesus Christ, that your sins are forgiven, that you know that you're going to heaven, you have that absolute certainty of the assurance of your salvation. Again, the question is, do you, as a believer, have that kind of assurance? Now before we get into our text, let me just give you three preliminary thoughts about this. It's possible to be saved and not have assurance. Dr. Adrian Rogers used to talk about Christians who go around bent over like a question mark when they should be standing upright like an exclamation point. He talked about doubting Christians, he said, when you ought to be shouting Christians. God doesn't want you bent over like a question mark. He wants you to know for sure that you're saved. And some believers really seem to struggle with this issue of assurance. But just know this, it's possible to be saved and not have assurance of your salvation. Full assurance is not essential to salvation, but it is essential to satisfaction. It is essential to having peace with yourself William Garnell said this, we may be at peace with God as soon as we believe, but we're not always at peace with ourself. And the Westminster Confession of Faith, a confession from which a lot of other confessions come or derive from, says this, that a believer may wrestle wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be a partaker of it. That is to have that absolute assurance you may wrestle with this for a time in your life. In fact, I would just say this as a pastor, I'm encouraged when someone comes to me and they tell me that they're wrestling with the assurance of their salvation because to me that is a sign of life. That in itself is a sign of life. The ones that really I'm concerned about are believers who never wrestle. the ones who are never really wrestling over this whole issue in their life. One time, a lady came to D.L. Moody, and she said, Mr. Moody, I've been saved, and I have never once doubted it. And Mr. Moody said, ma'am, I doubt that you're saved. It's just typical for believers to wrestle with this for a time in their Christian life. What are some of the reasons why believers may lack assurance? Let me just give you a few of these. First of all, strong preaching on God's holy standard. That is a pulpit that confronts sin and calls people to a high standard of holiness. that calls them to Christian living. That's not a bad thing because the pulpit is supposed to confront you in your Christian walk. It is supposed to create anxious hearts and cause you to examine yourself. But sometimes that kind of preaching will cause people to doubt. But also because people can't accept forgiveness. They're kind of tyrannized by their emotions. They are feeling that they've been too bad to be forgiven. Their sins are too great for God to forgive them. They're fixed more on the law of God and the holiness of God and the wrath of God than they are on the mercy of God and the grace of God. And by the way, that's exactly what the devil would have you to do, was to fix more on God's holiness and wrath and not on his mercy and grace and forgiveness. Because Satan is the accuser of the brethren. And he wants you to feel as if you have no hope of forgiveness. We have to make sure that we don't have an imbalanced view of God. Yes, God is a God of holiness. Yes, he's a God of wrath. As I told you last week, that's where the gospel starts, but he's also a God of love, and he's a God of grace, and he's a God of forgiveness, and he is able to forgive us for our darkest sins. And so there's another reason why some doubt, and that is they fail to comprehend the gospel and the plan of salvation. Some people just fail to comprehend the full sufficiency of Christ's death on the cross. They fail to comprehend that God's wrath and justice were fully satisfied with what Jesus did on the cross. So they don't understand the extent of God's grace, the extent of God's mercy. And another reason why people doubt their salvation is because they don't know the exact time of their salvation. They can't remember when they believed, or they can't remember the exact moment of their salvation. I've had some people come to me and say, I don't remember the date, the time, and the place, and therefore, I'm wondering if I'm ever really saved. Well, that would be like someone saying, I don't remember my birthdays, therefore, I'm not sure I'm alive. Your birth date doesn't determine your birth or whether or not you're alive. And the reason for this is because we kind of made a fetish out of decisionism. You know, we've got this formula where you walk an aisle, you make a profession of faith, you sign a card, you write down the date, the time, and the place when you prayed a prayer. And if you ever doubt, you just go back to that date, time, and place when you made that decision. But that's not a biblical assurance of salvation. There's nowhere in the Bible that says that when you can think of a daytime in a place when you pray to prayer that that is assurance of salvation. I know a lot of people that walk an aisle, they sign a card, they make a decision, and they go out and they live a disobedient life to Christ and they say, yeah, I know I'm saved because I remember this happened on this certain day. That's not a biblical assurance of salvation. But that's what we've done in churches. We say, you know, it's not official until you come to this altar. This is not an altar up here, by the way. The altar is in your own heart. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. It's giving your heart to Jesus Christ. Really, the terms that the Bible uses is repenting of your sin and believing on Jesus Christ. And so some people say, well, I don't know the exact moment when I did that. Well, I'll be honest with you, I don't remember the exact moment when I got saved. I just know this, I'm trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone for my salvation. I can't tell you the exact day, the exact hour, the exact moment when that transaction took place in my life. I couldn't give that to you. I, like many people, wrestled. But there's a mystery about when all that happens. Jesus said this in John chapter three when he said, the wind blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the sound thereof, but you can't tell when it's gonna come and when it's gonna go. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. That work of regeneration is kind of like the wind. You never know when the wind's gonna come and when it's gonna go, but you can see the effects of it. The question is, do you have the effects of salvation in your life? Are the effects of the wind there? And so the question is not, did you believe past tense? The question is, are you believing present tense right now upon Jesus Christ and him alone for your salvation? Someone who's saved is not someone who has believed and then they walk away from Christ. But it's someone who is constantly, continually believing and trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone. That word believe is always used in the present tense in the Bible. So it's a continuous believing on Jesus and Jesus alone. Another reason why people doubt is because they still feel the flesh strongly and they wonder if they have the new nature. But just remember this, that you're a new creature incarcerated in unredeemed flesh, and you're waiting for the redemption of the body. And if you feel more the sins of your life, that's because you have a new awareness to sin. That's a sign of spiritual life. Believers are more sensitive to sin in their life, not less. And so some people, they say, well, you know, I'm just dealing with sin all the time, I'm sinning all the time, and it's causing me to doubt my salvation. Let me tell you something, the fact that you have that awareness of sin, that is a good sign. What did John say in 1 John chapter one, verse eight? He said, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. That's someone who's not really a believer. They say, what sin? They don't really grieve over sin. They're not convicted about sin. But a true believer, what does John say? Verse 1-9, if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us. What's the sign of a true believer? You're constantly confessing your sin, you're constantly dealing with sin. Why? Because you have this new sensitivity to sin in your life. Believers become more acutely aware of their fallenness. Another reason why people doubt is because they don't see God's hand in their trial. Some people go through trials and they say, how could God allow this to happen to me? How could God, you know, do this? How could he take my loved one? How could he not hear my prayer? How could he not deliver me from this trial? How could I be a Christian? if God's allowing all this to happen to me. Let me tell you something, trials are one of the greatest assurances that you are a child of God, because if you can go through a trial and still maintain your faith in God, that reveals that your faith is real. Remember what Job said, when he has tried me, I shall come forth as what? As gold, meaning that my salvation is genuine. How do you know that, Job? Well, because he tried me and it purified my faith. It caused me to cling to him even more. The Bible says in Romans 5, 3, that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. What kind of hope? The hope, the certainty that we are a child of God, that we do belong to the Lord. And so trials are really a means of God strengthening that assurance, not taking it away. But just know this, it's possible to be saved and not have assurance. But then secondly, another preliminary thought, it's possible to have assurance and not be saved. And this is the most dangerous position to be in. There are some people who have assurance and they don't have any right to it. There's some people that say, oh, I know I'm saved, but they don't have no right to that assurance because they're not walking with the Lord, they're not obeying Christ. They have a false assurance, they're self-deceived. Jesus said, if your light be darkness, how great is that darkness? According to a recent poll, 88% of Americans believe there is a real heaven and that they're going there, 88%. That's why I hammer so hard on examining yourself and making sure. Jesus said in Matthew 721, not everyone who says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Not everyone who says they're saved are really saved. That's why Paul said, let a man examine himself. At the Lord's Supper, that's part of what we do. We examine our heart. We make sure that we're in the faith. Paul said, examine yourselves to see that you are in the faith. Test yourselves. How do people get this false assurance? Well, it's because information was given to them that's not really true. Someone said, all you have to do is just have a mental assent to Jesus, just believe who he is and that's it, it doesn't go any farther than that. Pray this little prayer. You don't have to repent of your sin, just pray this prayer. I like this one, you know, you don't have to make Jesus your Lord, just ask him to be your savior. You don't come to Jesus bartering. You come with repentance, and a part of true repentance is you're turning to him. You receive him as he is the Lord, and he receives you as you are a sinner. That's the exchange there. They just say, well, Lord, just forgive me for all my sin. They just want a fire escape from hell, but they have no intention of obeying Jesus as Lord of their life. I mean, you want me to actually live a Christian life and obey Jesus the rest of my life? Well, yeah, yeah. That's what it is to be a Christian. That's what it is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. You can't be saved. Someone says, well, I'm saved. I'm just not his disciple. Where is that dichotomy in the Bible anywhere? That's nowhere in scripture. I remember when I was a college student, I went to a large church that bragged that they baptized so many thousands every year in their church, and yet these converts would go right back into their old life. They would come, they would walk an aisle, they'd get baptized, and they'd go right back out living their old life, and yet they were told that they were saved now even though their life is no different, there's no real change, they're still walking in disobedience, but they did walk an aisle, they did pray a prayer, they were baptized, and yet they're living the same life. And when the pastor was questioned about this, the pastor preached a sermon on the 10 lepers, remember? 10 were cleansed of leprosy, but only one came back. He said, that's biblical proof that, you know, of all the people that get saved, only 10% of them really come back and obey the Lord. That is a lifting of a passage of scripture out of its context and totally using it to say something it was never intended to say there. If you're truly a child of God, you won't go back into the mud after you've been cleansed. There'll be a change in your life. Some people, they'll just point to an experience that they had or a daytime in a place when they made a decision and yet there is no continual obedience to Christ in their life. And they have a false assurance of salvation. But here's number three. It's possible to be saved and have full assurance, and that's what I want for you. That's what we ought to have as believers, that we're saved and we have that absolute assurance of our salvation. Surprisingly, there are some that teach that one cannot attain full assurance of salvation, or that it comes after a long, long time. For example, the Puritans carried on this kind of teaching. They carried on this assurance of salvation to an extreme. They set up some standard of holiness in a believer's life that they have to attain before they can actually have assurance, a standard that they themselves could not live up to. And they had the tendency to make assurance some mystical thing, as if it's hard to attain or you could never get it. But that simply is not what the Bible teaches. What does the Bible tell us? Well, we've already seen it, but look at it again, 1 John 5, 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, that you might believe on the name of the Son of God. And back here at our text verse, in 1 John 2, verse 3, look at 1 John 2, 3, notice what it says. And hereby we do know that we know him. You can know it. You can know that you know Christ. You can have assurance. And what John's gonna do for us here in this passage is to present one objective evidence of salvation, or we could say test, so that you can have assurance. And what is the test? Let me just say this, there are two different ways of getting assurance. There is subjective means, what I mean by subjective means, that's inward, inward evidence that you're a child of God. And the subjective evidence is the work of the Spirit in your life. or the witness of the Spirit, we could say. Whereas this test that John's gonna give here is objective, that is a test outside of ourselves. So there's the inward work, there's the outward evidence, all right? The inward work of the Spirit, what does the Bible say? The Bible says that, he that believeth in himself hath the witness in himself. The Bible says, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. And he says, for you not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you receive the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, what Abba, Father. That's the inward work of the Spirit of God. You see, it's the Spirit of God that works inside of us that bears witness that we are the child of God. He is the one that gives that inward peace that you are truly God's child, that you're saved. That's the inward work of the Holy Spirit. That has to come from him. I can't give you assurance, you understand that? Only the Spirit of God can do that. I tell my children, make sure you're saved, and I don't give them assurance. And when I share the gospel with someone and they pray to receive Christ, I don't, at that point, then give them assurance. I don't write down a date, time, and a place and say, if you ever doubt, just look at this. It's not my job to give assurance of salvation. It's my job to give the gospel. It's your job to repent and believe, and it's the Spirit of God's job to give the inward witness that you are a child of God. That's the work of the Spirit. I don't want to take away the work of the Spirit. I don't want to try to be the Holy Spirit. That's something that you have to settle in your own heart. So there's inward, internal, subjective means of assurance that comes through the Holy Spirit, but there are ways that we measure our faith with outward tests or outward evidences, objective means. And here what John is gonna give us is one objective means of knowing that you are saved, that you're going to heaven. And what is it? And I've said before, people come to me and say, I want to know that I'm saved. I want to have assurance. Can you give it to me in one word? Okay, sure. Obedience. Obedience. That's the measure. That's the test. And I want you to see then this test from three different perspectives. First of all, obedience expressed. Look again in verse three. And hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. So focus on knowing, the word knowing. Knowing him, by the way, is another synonymous term with true salvation. John uses several synonymous terms that talks about truly being saved. He talks about walking in the light. What's a Christian? A Christian's someone who walks in the light. A Christian is someone who confesses their sin. A Christian is someone who abides in him. A Christian is someone who overcomes the world. These are all terms that John uses in 1 John. They're all synonymous. They all talk about true salvation. Here's another term. What is a Christian? A Christian is someone who knows him. A true believer knows him. Okay? And when he says the word know here, hereby we do know that we know him. The word know here is gnosko. There are two Greek words for know. One is oda, which is abstract learning. It is book learning. That's not the word used here. Gnosko is personal knowledge, personal experience. And this is the word that he uses here. And he uses it two times in this verse. Notice, hereby we do know that we know. But here's the thing I want you to understand. The first time the word no is used, the Greek tense is present tense. And so we could say it like this. Here's how you continually know. Or we could say it again. Here's how you continually have assurance. that you know him. The second time the word know is used there, it's perfect tense in the Greek, which means something that happened in the past that has continual results in the present. So we could translate the verse like this. And here's how you can continually know that you have already come to know him in your life. Here's how you have continual assurance in your heart that you have truly repented and believed and you know, Jesus, you've done it in the past. Here's how you have the continual assurance that what happened in the past was real. What is the way? Again, verse three, and hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. So there's the test. Obedience is the way to know that you're a Christian. And the word for commandments here is not nomos. He's not talking about the Ten Commandments or the Law of Moses. It is entole, which is the commandments of Christ. You want to obey what Jesus says. You want to obey what Jesus taught and what Jesus told you. So the way to have continual assurance that you've already been saved is you're obeying the words of Jesus. So the question you need to ask yourself is this, am I obeying Jesus? Am I obeying his words? Are you obedient? The word keep here, think about keeping with me, this is not a legal obedience. The word here is the idea of watchful observance, It's a loving obedience, not a legal obedience. It's a holy desire to obey because you love him. That's the idea. I want to keep his commandments because I love him. And it doesn't mean you're going to be perfect in doing this, but it's your desire. The word keep is also a term that was used in John's day by sailors who would hold an instrument up to the stars to navigate their boat according to the stars. They wanted to keep their boat on course according to the stars. And when they navigated, they weren't always perfect. Sometimes they would get off course, but it was their desire to navigate according to the stars. And this is the idea behind the word here. Listen, the desire of a true believer's heart is to obey the words of Jesus. That doesn't mean we do it perfectly, but that's the desire of our heart. It's not perfection, it's direction. My whole life, before I was saved, I didn't care anything about what Jesus said. I just did my own thing. Now that I am saved, I want to obey Jesus. I want to do what he says. When I first got saved, I wanted to just follow Jesus. I didn't know what all he wanted. I didn't know what he demanded. I just knew this, I want to do whatever he says. I want to give myself to him and do whatever he says. You see, that is the product of faith. Obedience doesn't get you saved. Obedience reveals that your faith is genuine, that you are saved. And so you do it out of a love, out of a desire of your heart. That's obedience expressed. But number two, obedience examined. Look at verse number four. He that saith, I know him, I'm saved, and keepeth not his commandments is a what? It's a liar, and the truth is not in him. That's strong preaching from John. You say you know Jesus, and you don't live a life of obedience to him, you are a liar. You're a liar. You know, sometimes we'll go out on visitation, we'll knock on the door, and someone will say, you know, I'm so-and-so from Grace Bible Baptist Church, and they say, oh, listen, you know, I'm already saved, you don't have to worry about me. Really? Well, tell me about it. Well, you know, yeah, many years ago, 30 years ago, I walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, and I got that settled. Well, what church do you go to? Oh, I don't go to church. I don't go to church. But I just know that I made that decision. So let me get this straight, you live a life of continual disobedience to Christ, and your whole salvation is based upon a decision that you made 30 years ago? You're not trying to be sanctified, you're not trying to grow, you're not trying to learn God's word, you're not trying to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, and you're dependent upon a decision that you made? and there's no obedience to Christ, you can just continually miss being in the fellowship. God commanded, by the way, that we're not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together, that when you come together, you come together, you hold yourself accountable to a body of believers, to encourage each other to walk in Christlikeness and obey his word, and you're not a part of any of that, you're not trying to live a holy life, and yet you have that assurance. What does John say about that? He that saith, I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar. One of these days I'm going to have the courage to say liar. I didn't say that. I'm just quoting you scripture. This is what John says. And the truth, look again at verse four. He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. The truth here being Jesus Christ. It's not in him. It's not true. It's not how a believer lives. Jesus said, why call ye me Lord, and do not the things which I say? Jesus said in John 14, 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. How can you call yourself a child of God if you're not following what he says? Let me just show you this. Go to Matthew chapter seven real quick. Look at verse number 24. Just look at this quickly with me. Matthew chapter seven, verse 24. This is the end of the Sermon on the Mount. This is Jesus ending up the sermon. And look at verse 24. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand, and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and the beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. Now, I've always heard this preached by many, that Jesus is making a contrast between two different types of Christians, the wise Christian and the foolish Christian. But that's not what's going on here. Look at the verses right before verse 24. Go back up to verse 21. Not everyone who saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then while I profess unto them, I never knew ye depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Then therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, see how he goes right into this parable right after that. This is a contrast between those who say they are true believers and those who are true believers. Between a true believer and a false believer. This is the contrast. A true believer hears the sayings of Jesus and he does them. That's the man who builds his house upon a rock. He hears the sayings of Jesus, he obeys what Jesus says. But then the foolish man, he hears the sayings of Jesus and he does them not. He builds his house upon the sand. And when the storm comes, that house will fall. Notice the storm comes upon both. But one stands. And what is the storm, by the way? The storm is future judgment. One day when you stand in future judgment, you'll be able to stand because you know that you're truly saved. How do you know you're truly saved? Well, because your life has been one of obeying what Jesus said. So when judgment comes, you know what? You're not afraid of that. But if you're not obeying, you're not doing what Jesus says, when the judgment comes, you are in trouble. Because you've had a false assurance. And when the judgment comes, you will not stand. That's the whole point here. Obedience is the sign that your faith is a genuine faith. And there's so much more I could say about that. But let me move on. Go back to 1 John 2, look at verse number five. I call this love perfected. We see it from a positive standpoint, verse five. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. And we could say love for God. It's an adjenitive there. Love for God is perfected or accomplished or made complete. How do you know that your love for God is there, that it's complete, that it's true? that is perfected, accomplished because you hear the word and you do what God's word tells you to do. You keep the word of God and you keep it not out of fear of punishment, not even out of a desire for reward. You keep it because you love him. Because you love him, because it's an expression of true gratitude and love for his saving grace in your life. Because he saved you from sin and hell, and he's given you eternal home in heaven. Therefore, out of a heart of genuine love, you want to obey Jesus. That is the heart of a child of God. So let me give you the last thing. We saw obedience expressed. Obedience examined, but then obedience exemplified. Look at the last verse in our text, verse six. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. And so in other words, the pattern of our life is Jesus. We walk in Christ's likeness. And I would just say this, Christ's likeness is the ultimate evidence that you are a child of God, that your faith is genuine. Because, you know, the truth of the matter is a lot of people can do a lot of religious works outwardly and look as if they are obedient. But Christlikeness is produced by the Holy Spirit. It is a work of the Holy Spirit in a person's heart and life. And this is what he's saying here. He that saith he abideth in him, that's another synonymous term for salvation, who is a Christian, someone who abides in him, ought himself also to walk even as he, that should be a capital H there, he, Jesus, walked. We're gonna walk like Christ walked. It doesn't mean we're gonna be exactly like him all the time, because again, we're not perfect, not yet, not in this life. But we're gonna certainly make that our pattern. Christlikeness is our goal. We wanna walk like he walked, and how did he walk? He was absolutely, totally obedient to the Father in every way. In every attitude and action, he was completely obedient to his Father. And that is the pattern. a true child of God is gonna say, I want Christlikeness in my life. I wanna walk like Jesus walked. And if you have no desire for that, if there's no sanctification in that desire in your heart, then friend, you need to question whether that faith of yours is real. And my goal here is not to cause you to doubt. My goal is to give you a true biblical assurance. I want everyone here to know Beyond any doubt, I want you to have a true certainty that you're on your way to heaven, that your faith is real, that it's genuine. But I'm going to tell you that the Bible tells us that the ultimate outward evidence and expression that your faith is genuine is Christlikeness in your life, expressed in a lifestyle of obedience to the Father and obedience to the Word of God. And so that's the question you have to ask yourself. Are you walking like he walked? Are you living a Christ like life? Is that the desire of your heart? To be like Christ. And I'll close with this. On the wall near the main entrance to the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is a portrait of a man that has an inscription underneath of it. The portrait is of James Butler Bonham. And the inscription says this, no picture of him exists. This portrait is of his nephew, who greatly resembled his uncle. And it was placed there by the family, who wanted the people to remember the man who had died for their freedom. But since there was no picture of that hymn available, they put a portrait of the nephew that looked almost exactly like him, because no portrait of him existed. There's no portrait of Jesus that exists here on earth. You're the portrait. If the world wants to see a portrait of Christ, they should see it in you. That is the ultimate evidence that your faith is a genuine faith. That is the mark of true salvation, Christlikeness marked out through a pattern of obedience in your life. Let's bow for prayer together. Father, thank you for the word of God that teaches us so clearly the wonderful gospel of grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who bore our sins, who took all of our sins upon himself, who satisfied the holy wrath of you, the Father, and made salvation available, a gift to all who will repent and believe on Jesus Christ. And I pray, Lord, that everyone here, under the sound of my voice, has done that, that they've turned to Christ, they believe on Christ and Christ alone. and that that faith is a genuine faith evidenced by a life of obedience to the words of Jesus and a desire for Christlikeness in their life. And Lord, if there's someone here wrestling with assurance, I pray that the Spirit of God will do that inward work, the subjective work of bearing witness that they are a child of God. But we know, Lord, that there are times when we're not at peace with ourself because there are times when we're not walking in obedience. So Lord, I pray that you'll help us to look constantly to the cross of Christ and gain that assurance through an obedient life. By being sensitive to sins, when we do fail, we confess our sins because we know you're faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But I pray, Lord, you'll do the work of assurance in every heart to those who are truly yours, convict those who are not. I pray you'll rip away any pretense. and bring, Lord, true knowledge of salvation, true assurance to every soul. For your honor and your glory, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.